Christmas 2009

I woke up this morning with two babies in my bed taking turns kissing me and giggling about it. Ariki did a great job cleaning the house and from there we took our time going up to Lelo's house. We cruised by the beach and got a bag of home-grown oranges from Mark White. Treat! then we went and had pancakes, bacon, papaya, and fried bananas at Lelo and Papa's house. We did a short present opening as we really don't do presents...but the kids got a couple of things each. Lyon's highlight gift was a monster truck that makes all kinds of noise and sounds. Kiri got a puppy (not real, no way) named Susie Cinnamon by Ariki. She carried it around for about half a minute before giving it to Lelo and finding interest in a book.
After a couple hours relaxing we all decided to head up to the public golf course up the road and play some golf. The kids loved riding in the carts and being outside. Golf was followed by yet another awesome dinner by Uncle Fab-shrimp, lasagna, garlic bread and salad.....Merry Christmas to all our family that we couldn't be with today...we love you!

Peanut Butter Jelly Sandwich

This morning Lyon woke me up at 7am and it went something like this:
"WAKE UP MOMMY, WAKE UP! UP MOMMY, UP! EAT! COME ON, MOMMY LET'S GO!! (then he rips my blanket off me)

Then we get to the fridge and he opens it and points to the bread "BREAD" gives it to me. Then he says "AND THIS" and hands me the peanut butter. "OHHH THIS" and hands me the jelly.

That's how you get a peanut butter jelly sandwich at 7 in the morning.

Kiri and the Nonaka Kids

Sunday Morning and Friends

Sunday morning with our cute clothes on. The ones we get to wear only to special places that don't have food or dirt.
Here's our little friends Linkin (3) and Bo (5). Bo took charge of Kiriana. She enjoyed looking after the "baby".

Sad Day...

Today was a hard day. We got news this morning that our dear friend, Auntie Gail, passed away. She had been battling cancer for some time now and this morning she went home to be with our Lord. I spent the morning with Raymond, her son, and his girlfriend, Blenda. It was hard seeing Auntie Gail but she looked so peaceful in her bed in her own house. How sad that Raymond had to say goodbye to his mother today. It made me reflect how we should never pass up on the opportunity to tell those we love....quite simply that we love them.

End of November 2009

It's almost the end of November. Kiriana is now almost 14 months old. Her personality is changing a bit. She is coming out of her shell, so to speak. She laughs a lot more now, she is a bit more accepting of people besides mom and dad. She doesn't take much guff from Lyon, she will tell him "no" and whack him back if needed. She likes to cuddle. Her favorite is to lay down on your chest and sleep. Her other favorite pastime is eating. This girl eats like no other!! I was thinking that Ariki would be competing soon with Lyon for food, but it looks like Ariki and Lyon will be competing with Kiri for food! She says words like mom, dad, uh-oh, doo-doo, no, bye, juice, doggy...Nothing is better than our little curly-hair girl!

Now for Mr. Lyon....Lyon has a bright personality. He is very goofy. He likes people, anyone really. He knows when you are joking with him and he likes to joke too. He is curious about everything and wants to investigate it all. He likes to kiss, read books, watch movies, run, be with animals, dance, and watch monster trucks on the internet. His eyes are so big and warm, and his eyelashes are a mile long. He loves to smile and laugh. He likes to eat crackers and has a favorite blankie for comfort. I look forward to hearing all the funny things Lyon says everyday!

Baby Motor

Lyon always asks Kiri to get in the car so he can push her around in it. Most of the time he finds this easy to do naked...I'm sure when he gets a bigger vocabulary he can explain to us why naked?

UNCLE FABIO

This is Uncle Fabio. He's my mom's brother, so technically he is Lyon's Great-Uncle. He's been here for about a month now and he is teaching Lyon some Spanish. Here they are at play.

Moon Doodoo

I just got done explaining to Lyon tonight that the moon doesn't doo-doo.

Lyon-isms

This morning I was changing Lyon. He had his shirt off. He grabbed both his nipples and said "Mommy, look! little boobies!"

Later on Ariki farted in the kitchen. Lyon said "Mommy, Daddy make doo-doo!"

$3 Horse

Every Saturday morning we go find treasures at garage sales around the island. Lyon picked out this horse that makes noises when you press its ears...it was only THREE dollars!!

Halloween 2009

Here we are Halloween 2009. Lyon was Elmo because he got the costume free from his friend Moses, Kiri got hers for $1.50 from a Garage sale, I got mine for $3 from a garage sale and Ariki recycled his from last year and added a mop for his hair. We took the kids, accompanied by Papa and Uncle Fab, to trick or treat at Weliweli track (a popular street where lots of kids go). The kids got a few pieces of candy each (not too much says mom) and then we drove to the airport so Lelo (grandma) could see them in their costumes.
Happy Halloween,
Kiri mouse
Elmo
Roaring 20's
and.......a random scary guy that wanted to be in our photo

Boogers

Today marked the end of another Preemie issue for Lyon. Since coming home on October 18, 2007, Lyon has had regular visits from the Easter Seals therapists. They have worked with him on many developmental issues relating to his early arrival. Since he has done so well catching up, we decided to end therapy services. Today was his last day with his educational therapist Eileen. She came in the morning after Lyon had finished his oatmeal. As they were "playing" Lyon came across a piece of oatmeal on his body and wiped it on Eileen. He then said "LOOK" indicating her to look at the oatmeal. She said "Oh Wow Lyon! What is that?" and Lyon's response was "a booger".

Thanks to the speech therapist who got him all caught up!

Goofy Kids: The Movie Coming Soon

New Shoes

If you take a close look in this picture, you will see Kiri's new orange shoes. she LOVES these shoes. Today she wore them around the house all day. She had to take them off for nap time, but right when she got up she brought them over to Ariki and demanded they be put back on. She took them off for bath time, but they went back on afterwards. She even wanted to wear them to bed (which she did)! The best part about the orange shoes is that they cost only 50 cents!

Serious Play

Caught in the middle of playing hard!

Kiri has a "shoe" thing. She loves to wear her shoes around the house. She got a new pair of orange shoes that she insists on wearing every day around the house. Kiri is also now officially booby-free! We finally had success in weaning her at 13.5 months old with the help of band-aids. This is now day 6 and since day 2 she has become a different child; less whiny and more independent.

Master of the High-5

Kiri is now the high-5 master and the kisser. She loves to kiss people with big, open-mouth slobbery kisses followed by a "muuuah" sound. Sometimes if it is a good kiss she will give you a high-5 after. She got Banx good down at the Harbor beach the other week.

So Lyon is now in his toddler bed in the corner of my room (we don't have enough rooms for everyone to have their own room). The other night I put him in his bed and turned out the light. As I was making my way to my bed I heard "Moommmyyy" and it sounded like he wasn't in his bed. I said "HEY! Where are you?!!" and he replied simply "in your bed". It was pretty funny hearing him say a whole sentence because he is just starting to do that. He also likes to use a pillow now. In this case he was laying on my leg pillow so I started to take it from him and he told me "HEY, HEY, HEEEEYYY!!!" what a guy!!!

These are the days

This morning Lyon discovered that his nose has buggers in them. So he took one out, I told him what it was, and he said "bugger" and wiped it on me. After that he wanted to check my nose for some. I think he almost touched my brain he put his finger so high up there before I got it out.

He has an official name for Grandma Carmen. Her official name is "Lelo" which comes from Spanish word "abuela" for grandma. He loves to go see Lelo and Papa and Tito (uncle Fab).

Miss Kiri is teething again...she has two teeth coming in on top. For the longest time we were wondering if she was only going to have 4 teeth because its taken so long to come in! She loves to kiss her daddy and dance. Her words are getting better and better even in that raspy voice.

We are all healthy and happy...life is good!

Foster Country Club

Featuring private pools on a hot day!

Add These To The List

Here's more words by Lyon:
Moot=Moon
tdo-tdo=cho-cho train

Lyon has a little friend named Po'okela who has a train in his room that they can get on and ride around with the push of a button. When we went over to Po'o's house the other day Lyon was enthralled with his train. He went around and around. Po'o walked into the room to find Lyon riding the train and Lyon looked at Po'o and said "Hi! Nice tdo-tdo!"

Today Kiri was in charge of handing out goldfish crackers (cakas according to Lyon) while we drove to Kalaheo. One for her, one for Lyon. One for her, one for Lyon....all the way to Kalaheo.

Sometimes while we drive I like to listen to Lyon talking to himself. His conversations went something like this today:

"Auntie, mommy, baby, daddy, yellow bus, bug (grandma's cat), yellow bike, lelo, yellow nuk (truck)...."

Lyon's Own Language

We have a new language emerging...Lyonish!
Here's a few things we have been able to decode:

Bobble: Bottle
Bankie: blanket
tantu mommy!: thank you mommy
mobie: movie
Mu-haha: Lilo and Stitch (the movie)
monuk: monster truck
nummy: food
lelo: grandma
dad: grandpa
wa: water
cacka: cracker
yummy bear: gummy bear
peace: please
pepa: paper

Here's Kiri's vocab (1 year old)
mama
Dad
Juice
Ball
Tantu (thank you)
RAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR: "Lyon if you touch my toy one more time I will smack you"

Oatmeal Lady

Oatmeal in the hair
Oatmeal on the chair
But she doesn't care
Nor will she share
Her yummy oatmeal everywhere!

Table For Two, Please!

Good Morning! Welcome to Foster Cafe where healthy oatmeal with stevia is served daily (well, almost daily). We have a table for two where the diners can feed themselves and the maid will be by later to clean them up and clean up their mess. If diners do not behave and decide to push the table into their dining partner, there will be time-outs issued by the cook. Enjoy your meal!

More Birthday pics

I'm not sure if he was being tailgated but apparently there was a reason to pull over and have a word with onlookers...naked or not.

Kiri and her smoking gun have a moment with Daddy

Princess of the Birthday

Lyon tries on the crown with Kiri in close watch

Kiri telling Lyon how to wear the crown and how long he may wear it for.

Hard work being a birthday princess...have to give the crown a break

Birthday princess looking over her friends


Enjoying her new crown

Kiri getting crowned "Birthday Princess" by her daddy.

Lyon and His Hair

Lyon needs a hair cut. Due to two giddy-giddies (cowlicks, swirls, etc) on the back of his head and his stick-straight hair, his hair only grows straight up on top. Even if we get it wet it sticks up.

Holding Hands

Lyon and Kiri after playing hard at Tutu and Me Traveling Preschool Program. Kiri was passed out and Lyon held her hand the whole way home while he looked out the window at passing cars.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIRIANA!!

On Saturday Kiriana turned ONE YEAR OLD! We reflected on how time has gone by so fast. It seems like just yesterday I was calling Ariki at Duke's Restaurant in the middle of his gig and telling him to hurry to the hospital-she was going to be here within the hour!!! And then there she was...perfect, tiny, peaceful, beautiful....And today, on her first birthday, here she is with brown curly hair, honey-brown skin, big eyes, a cute gap between her teeth. She likes to snuggle and be held. She walks around the house now and talks with a raspy voice. When she kisses you she opens her mouth and ends up licking you. We never imagined that we would have one kid, let alone TWO! We never dreamed our life could be more full of love after Lyon, but it is, and we are grateful for our little Kiriana Heimataura Kauvai Foster!
For her birthday we had a small party down at Poipu Beach Park. Grandpa Tom and I worked very hard to prepare all the food. We had pineapple-Teriyaki Chicken with Coconut, coconut-lemongrass rice and a great salad. Everyone loved the food. We also had a volleyball court to play. Everyone went swimming and had a great time. Auntie Sandy prepared two marvelous cakes, one special one for Kiri that she delighted in after everyone sang "Happy Birthday" Everyone had a great time and now we are so tired. Happy Birthday Kiri! Mom and Dad love you!!

Just Driving Around

Somehow they manage to fit into this little car together and drive around.

Ice cream on a hot summer day

August 2009

Here we are approaching the end of August 2009. Kiriana will be turning ONE in a couple weeks. Time flies! I can definitely say it has gotten easier. As I write, Kiri is finally getting her two top teeth in. We suspect she might have a gap between the two front teeth...we'll see. She has also added some new words to her list. She says "juice" and "duck" now. Her walking is getting better too. She took 3 steps today. She loves to wave "bye" to people. Her hair is getting curlier and curlier by the day. Lyon goes looking for her when he wakes up from his nap. He looks at me and says "where baby?" In the morning he can't wait for her to wake up. He goes into her room and sees her on the bed. As soon as she stirs from his noise, he says "BABY! YAY BABY!" She gives him this look that says "I'm tired!!"

And Mr. Lyon....so many words...This morning I made him a piece of toast and he looked at me and said "ooooh mommy! Thank you mommy!" Tonight when I got home from a quick trip to the store for ice cream, I came in the door and I heard him in the kitchen say "YAAAAY MOMMY!!!" and start clapping.
I think the best story is the other day he was playing in his room while I was cooking in the kitchen. He walks into the kitchen with this confused look, throws his hands up in the air and says to me "Where daddy's balls?"
I wasn't sure if he was referring to his volleyballs or his bacci balls.

Babeeez

Here is Kiriana at 11 months old at the beach on a hot summer day. Ariki is holding Banx, almost 6 months old. Banx is my best friend Lila's first child. He is younger than Kiri but already bigger than her.

New Words

Lyon has added some new words to his vocab. He is also doing 2 word sentences now. Here's what we have been hearing:
"where daddy?"
"Thank you mommy"
"please"
"dodo"
"oh yea"
"I love you"
"where bobble (bottle)"
"baby. baaaaaaaaby"
"wait"
"Mobie (movie)"
"nooooo"

Miss Kiriana

Today I saw Miss Kiriana take a couple steps across the couch without holding onto anything. It was quite a moment and I think in a couple months Lyon will have to learn to run faster because she will be running after him!

She also has learned how to wave at people. Her favorite is to wave at her Daddy. Her hair keeps getting curlier and bigger. She is such a heart-melter...One of her other favorite things to do is play wrestling with Lyon and Dad.

She's turning 11 months old soon....I'm going to miss her being a little baby...

Funny Story

This evening I was in the kitchen and Lyon was in his room. It started to rain really hard. Of course, Lyon came running and whimpering into the kitchen because he is still a bit scared of the rain. He ran about half way into the kitchen, stopped, and turned around and ran back to his room. I thought that was a bit weird and wondered what he was up to. About a minute later he comes running into the kitchen and whimpering "Moommmy Raaaining" but this time he has his arms loaded with about 5 big toy trucks!!! I guess if you get freaked out by something make sure you have all your favorite things before you run away!

Dear Aunty Esther...

Dear Aunty Esther,
Thank you for the very creative and wonderful birthday card. You did an awesome job designing it. The best part was the little card that was attached to it with all the 2's!! You are a great artist-I hope you keep developing your talent!!
Love,
Marie, Roger, Lyon and baby Kiri

"Nooo Baby!"

Lyon is turning 2 years old tomorrow. Looking back, I can't believe what we went through the first year with him. Looking at him, I am so thankful that he is so healthy and full of life. He is such a joy to be around...always smiling, giggling, playing. And now he is finally starting to talk. We hear words like "horse, ba-bus, moooo, mommy, daddy, truck, thank you, please, and of course...."baby". As older brother, Lyon is the regulator of what Kiri (also known as Baby) can and can't play with. We often hear him telling her "ohhhh nooooo Baby...no no no!!" if she gets into something he doesn't want her playing with. He also loves playing Peek-a-boo with her. But instead of starting with his hands covering his eyes and then removing them and saying "PEEK-A-BOO!" He says "PEEK-A-BOO!!" and then covers his eyes and starts laughing. Kiri finds that a hoot and starts laughing.
Kiri loves her brother. They play together around the house, swim together and even feed eachother. Kiri, now almost 11 months old, has been practicing standing up without holding on to anything. She had a couple good stands today in her little swimming pool. We call her "The Lady with the Big Hair" because her hair is so darn curly and cute. She is so darn cute. She's like a little brown macadamia chocolate chip cookie you just want to squeeze over and over. Or at least I think so...cause I keep squeezing her!!
We are so thankful and lucky...Look where we were on the 23rd of July two years ago....Happy Birthday Lyon!! We've come a long way, baby!!

Another Day at the Beach!